I will grant you that most professionals won't care much for this lense, as most have bashed it. But, then again most of us aren't professionals. I moved from Minolta to Cannon and this was the kit lense with the Rebel XT I purchased. This lenses does as well, or better, then most people will ever ask of it. It takes great close up shots, and provides you with a little distance as well. The photos are sharp and clear and focus is right on every time. The focusing is also fast and quiet, as well. I have purcahsed two additional lenses for the camera, one a Canon and the other a third party lense (filled the gap between my two Canon lenses), and this one out produces both the others, in my opinion. I read the reviews before purchasing the camera, but as I had no Canon lenses I went ahead and paid the extra ($50) for the kit lenses, and I could not be more then happier with it. Where else are you going to find a quality lense at this price? I am currently a Assistant Scout Leader for the local Boy Scout troop and we recently had a Court of Honor for the boys awards and I used this lense to shoot it. The photos came out remarkably better then I had hoped for (wished it had a little more length for the further away shots - as I was behing the parents and didn't want to get in their way). So yes most of the reviews on this lense are not that great, and I can see not purchasing it if you already have Canon lenses. But for someone like myself making a switch from another system to Canon, or someone moving from a point and shoot to an SLR, the I highly recommend spending the little extra and getting this in the kit, you will be glad you did. I am rating it as good, but if it was a little longer (say a 18mm to maybe a 70mm) then it would have had an Excellent.Read full review
Excellent lens for the casual or even serious amateur photographer that doesn't want to carry a large camera bag around for those times when you want to have your camera with you but just don't know what you want to shoot. As another reviewer wrote, yes, there are better lenses out there which cost a lot more, but unless you make your living from photography, there really is no need to spend several thousand dollars when several hundreds gets you something that will give you very respectable results. And remember, its not the equipment that makes a good image, its the person taking the picture. My personal reason for using/liking this lens is that I do a lot of salt water sailing regattas and fortunately usually am in very close proximity to the boats. This lens is perfectly suited for this specific situation. One lens covers almost everything (I do carry Canon's inexpensive 75-300mm just in case I need that extra range). And if the lens does get damaged, I haven't lost a lot of money. (Ditto for the 75-300). As for the images, the only negative with the particular lens that I have is that at the shorter focal lengths, say below 25mm, vignetting becomes apparent. Generally this is not a problem, as I'm shooting wider to counteract boat movement and crop down afterwards. And as others have noted, this is NOT a light weight lens. After 8 hours of taking photos, it does get heavy. Again, great all purpose lens that won't bankrupt you.Read full review
Verified purchase: No
This Canon lens, also known as a "kit lens", because it is commonly included with many Canon Digital Camera Kits, is specifically designed for digital cameras that have the x1.6 image sensor, such as all of the Canon Digital Rebel models, the 20D, and the 30D. It can not be used with the 5D or 1D models with has a full frame image sensor. This lens is inexpensive yet performs like an expensive lens. It is a must for every camera bag. Even if you can afford the more expensive versions of this lens, you will want this lens for everyday shooting. It is sometimes better to take a risk with a $100 lens than a $1000 lens. You can read all the technical specs on this lens on the Canon website if you want. What I know is that the 18-55mm zoom lens is perfect for 90% of your general picturing taking. The wide angle is necessary for shooting group shots inside where you may not be able to get back far enough to get everyone in the shot with other lenses. The zoom range of 55mm is actually like a 90mm lens on a film camera, which is adequate. Team this lens with the Canon 75-300mm f4-5.6 Tele-Zoom lens (generally under $200 on ebay) and you have the entire shooting range covered for a fairly small investment.Read full review
So let's see. This lens comes with the body at a price well under 100 dollars. It has a nice 18-55 range - good for wide angle on one hand and a little distance on the other hand. I will not compare this to any other lenses. I'm not going to say, oh, it's not as sharp as this, or blah blah, who cares? As another reviewer said, it's pretty much disposable, it's not a professional-grade lens, and it's CHEAP. The autofocus is medium-fast and is dead on most of the time. It hunts in low light and backlit conditions, but this is expected. The front element rotates when focusing, so circular polarizers are an issue. The lens has good (hence my rating: good) image quality, good sharpness, although there have been reports of quality control problems. I probably got a good copy. Other people have gotten copies that have not performed very well. The build is decent. It feels sturdier than what you paid for. I like this lens as a walk-around lens just to have some fun with, although I have taken some serious pictures with it. I have made a 12x18 print of the following picture that I took with the 18-55 and it came out spectacular: http://nd.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30105784&l=341c1 That's about it. Oh yeah, one more thing: I like its macro capabilities. It in fact does a good job with close-up shots. I found my best pictures came from this type of shooting. Here is an example: http://nd.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=15715144&l=c047d I would suggest, for those upgrading to DSLR from point and shoot, to go with this lens as the kit lens. It is worth it.Read full review
You can't compare this lens quality with "L" type lens and say image quality is bad. Well, the lens is cheap, so you can't expect everything to be perfect. Per price point, I think it delivers its money's worth. You can get this lens for about $70 here in ebay and it's very light compare to other lens. And since it's so cheap, you don't have to worry about losing it or breaking especially when you travel. It covers wide angle to midium telephoto. Since it is EF-S type, you can only use this in Canon Digital Rebel, Canon Digital rebel XT, Canon 20D and future cameras with EF-S support. I think it's good lens for its price. If you need absolute best quality pictures out of your digital camera, try "L" type lens but be ready to spend $600+Read full review
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